


The Token Cishet

by wastelandzbaby



Series: Of Odinson [5]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Agender Character, Agender Thor, Allspeak (Marvel), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Character, Asexual Steve Rogers, Asexuality, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Thor (Marvel), Bisexual Tony Stark, Bisexuality, Coming Out, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gay Bruce Banner, Gay Male Character, Gay Pride, Gay Steve Rogers, Headcanon, Humor, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Themes, Language Barrier, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Natasha Romanov, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Jane Foster/Thor, Misunderstandings, Nonbinary Character, Pansexual Character, Pansexual Clint Barton, Post-Avengers (2012), Pride, Queer Character, Queer Themes, Self-Indulgent, That's about it though, The Avengers (2012) - Freeform, Thirsting, Thor (Marvel)-centric, Trans, Trans Bruce Banner, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Transgender, nonbinary thor, only with a few words though, this is a shameless lgbt headcanon dump, this is basically set in 2012, thor says a guy should crush him between his thighs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 00:29:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18712810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastelandzbaby/pseuds/wastelandzbaby
Summary: Tony has given Thor the title of "Token Cishet". He doesn't know what it means.Then he learns what it means, and somehow getsmoreconfused.





	The Token Cishet

**Author's Note:**

> this is shameless lgbt+ headcanon dumping lmao  
> read end notes for actual listed identities/pronouns if u care!!

They had thought Thor to be straight. Straight, and cis, and not like them.

"Our beautiful token cishet," Tony had grinned, clapping him hard on the shoulder - and he'd smiled obliviously, unfamiliar with the Midgardian term, and assumed it was an honourable status to have.

And because of this unfortunate language barrier, he hadn't been privy to their more queer conversations - he hadn't been consulted when Banner felt especially dysphoric, or when Tony found yet another magazine-cover model attractive (and felt the need to tell everybody, even his girlfriend), or when Steve blushed redder than apples and spoke fondly of the boy he'd crushed on in his youth. He hadn't heard Natasha's tales of maiden flirting or Clint's fond recollections of his first partners; he had been prematurely boxed into his own separate category of "cishet" and cast aside.

It was Jane who told him what it meant.

They'd been together, at the time - she'd been asking him to list any Midgardian terms he didn't understand, and she'd explain them in simpler words. Her brow had furrowed as she read Tony's words on the page - _"token cishet"_ \- and she'd looked up at him with a confused glint in her eyes.

"Where did you hear this?" she asked, confused. "I didn't think you were involved in any LGBT+ spaces."

Thor blinked owlishly at her, shifting slightly in his seat. "I know not of those spaces you mention," he answered calmly, cocking his head slightly like a confused puppy, "for that term is one which i encountered amongst the Avengers. The Man of Iron said it to be my title."

Jane stared at him for a second, before her eyes filled with recognition and her back straightened, and she snorted softly in laughter.

"It means you're cisgender and heterosexual-" a confused glance from Thor, "-so, basically, you identify with the gender you were born as, and you like only the opposite binary gender. You'd be a cis man - a man born with typically 'male' anatomy - and you'd only like women. Does that make sense?"

Thor's brow creased, and he slumped back, seemingly more confused. If his head cocked any more, Jane thought fondly, he'd be horizontal. "Your description is helpful, Lady Jane, and yet baffles me still. None of that criteria applies, and yet the title was still given to me."

Jane blinked, laughed, and held her face in her hands.

* * *

Thor is not a man.

Well, perhaps he is, but not in the sense that Midgardian men seem to be men. He is fine with being a man, with being manly, but it is not a part of his core - it is simply a word people use to describe what they see, from the broadness of his shoulders to the fuzz on his jaw. He has long grown used to and accepted the term.

That does not mean, however, that he is male. It is a confusing distinction, but a distinction nonetheless - one that he finds himself detailing to Banner one day, when the smaller man had offhandedly mentioned his gender.

"Midgardians often confuse me," the god had mumbled, sitting quietly beside his friend, "but gender is a topic of theirs that I cannot even vaguely begin to grasp."

Banner blinked at him, straightening his back from where he was leaning over his coffee, squinting. "You mean, like, you don't get it? Or you don't like it?"

Thor waved vaguely with one hand. "Both, I don't know." He shifted a little in his chair, taking a small sip from his cup (the strongest Midgardian ale that Stark owned) and turning more to face the scientist. "I simply do not understand why Midgardians insist I am male."

His friend's face scrunched in confusion, and he turned. "You mean, you aren't?"

"Of course not," the Asgardian scoffed, gesturing widely, "the Midgardian binary is primitive, in Asgard. We see no need for it. Gender is a human concept, held by no other society that my people have witnessed. On Asgard, such identifiers are largely optional, and I have never seen them as necessary."

Bruce's eyes widened, and he nodded slowly, sipping some more of his coffee. He swallowed slowly, tapping his fingers on the counter, before clearing his throat. "So, uh, trans buddies?"

A smile. "If that is what this makes me, then yes. Trans buddies, friend Banner."

* * *

Banner swallowed another sip of his coffee, cast a cautionary glance to the doorway, and turned to face the god once more. "Pronouns, then? If you care, I mean."

The god blinked back at him, smiling slightly. "I do not find myself caring," he shrugged, "but he and they are what I am used to."

The scientist nodded, downed the rest of his coffee, and retreated to the lab.

* * *

Thor does not only love women.

Women are beautiful, yes, and he had fallen in love with many throughout the years - the valkyries had been amongst his first crushes when he was young, and he'd crushed on many Asgardian maidens, such as the servant girls who helped him into his armour, or even Lady Sif - but he had loved just as many men, and just as many who, like himself, found no need for gender at all.

He supposed that dating Jane made his supposed heterosexuality more easy to assume, as she was beautiful and smart and very much a woman - but he would love her just the same if she were handsome and rugged and manly. He sometimes dearly wished that Loki were more willing to cooperate and befriend the other Avengers, as the younger Odinson came with years of embarrassing stories of his older brother's many relationships, some of whom were with dashing knights rather than servant dames - and then he'd remember how terrible some stories could be, and thank the stars that Loki had yet to subject him to such torture.

No, instead the big reveal came when Tony had loudly thirsted after another front-page celebrity, and Thor had physically recoiled at the sight of the object of his affections.

Tony jolted at the movement, turning to blink at him with wide eyes. "Y'alright there, Point Break? Not dying on us?"

Thor tensed, teeth grinding in his mouth, heart stuttering uncomfortably in his chest, and growled, with a guttural grit that shook the earth; "I would allow that man to _crush me betwixt his thighs."_

The Avengers hit a sudden silence, turning to stare at him with wide eyes and wider mouths - and Tony threw his head back and laughed, slinging one arm around the god's shoulder.

 _"Finally,"_ he wheezed, voice rich with amusement, "someone who _gets it."_

* * *

Thor did not understand.

They made a point to tell him each of their identities, once they'd all figured out what he was - "Agender and bisexual," Tony had said thoughtfully, "or pan, depends on your preference for that one" - and if he said he knew what any of it meant, he'd be lying through his teeth.

Tony was bisexual, like Thor;  
Banner was trans and "gay" (which the All-Speak said meant happy, but Banner had told him, with a smile, that it meant he only loved men, or men-aligned non-binary people - like Thor);  
Steve was "gay" (Thor's brow twitched as he tried to force the real meaning of the word past the All-Speak ringing in his head) and asexual (he would love a man but never lie with anyone);  
Natasha was a lesbian (like "gay" but with maidens);  
and Clint was pansexual, which was close enough to bisexual to confuse Thor significantly, but different enough to deserve a distinction.

And Thor _thoroughly_ did not understand.

They told him it was okay to not understand. They told him they'd show him, and teach him, and someday he would understand, just as they did - and he smiled, and hugged them all hard (until they complained of breathlessness and hit at his biceps), and thanked them.

* * *

Thor liked pride.

It was bright, and loud, and colourful, and full of people - the rainbows hung on every wall and arm and street-corner reminded him of Asgard's bridge, the glint and glimmer of the attendants' costumes reminded him of his own armour, and the comforting commotion reminded him that he was not alone.

His cape had been replaced for the day with a flag - black, grey, white and green, in horizontal stripes, hung sideways from his shoulders - and another was wrapped around his waist like a belt (blue, purple and pink, like Stark's special Iron Man suit). Banner ran a finger across every stripe and told him what each one meant, and Steve smiled at him from a few feet away, rainbows painted on his red-flushed cheeks and hair dip-dyed in colour. Natasha and Clint clung to each other, speaking loudly and laughing, covered in glitter, their own stripes painted around their necks. The whole Avengers family were there, open and happy and no longer separated.

There was no misunderstanding to work through, no separation from the rest of his team, and no confusing Midgardian words to try and translate properly (well, a few, but Banner stuck close to him and translated quickly enough).

To put it simply, pride felt like _home._

**Author's Note:**

> Thor - Agender & Bisexual, he/they (this is entirely me projecting onto him)  
> Tony - Bisexual, he/him  
> Steve - Gay & Ace, he/him (I usually write Steve as bi, but had a sudden urge for gay Steve, so here you go!)  
> Bruce - Trans & Gay, he/him  
> Natasha - Lesbian, she/her  
> Clint - Pansexual, he/him


End file.
